To: MIT.EDU!witchhunt Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 02:55:37 -0500 Thank you to those who posted

From: romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu!aol.com!NELSON1111
To:   MIT.EDU!witchhunt
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 02:55:37 -0500

Thank you to  those who posted to me and told me how to join witchhunt.  Many
requested that I introduce myself and explain what my experience with SRA has
been.
Briefly, here it is:

My background includes: reserve police officer and detective on three
different municipal police departments, currently a reserve in Marine Corps 
counterintelligence, AA in Police Sci, BA Psyche, MA in family therapy, PhD 
to go.  I earn a living as a forensic analyst.  I was lead author on "First 
Glimpse" in the current "Issues in Child Abuse Accusations."

In 1989 I read Mike Warnke's book Satan Seller.  The tales of satanic rituals, 
of death and deviance were riveting.  As a reserve police officer I had seen 
the dark side of humanity--murder, rape, child molestation, and other grisly 
crimes, but nothing like Warnke described.  I quickly read every book on 
satanism that I could find, some 25 of them.  I attended seminars on 
satanism.  I met "survivors" of "satanic ritual abuse".  Their stories
of torture and abuse were compelling.

I was bothered.  Why hadn't anyone succeeded in getting a videotape or photos
of generational satanic groups in action?  The few photos I had seen were of
poor quality.  Were they of wacko's like Jeffrey Daumer or John Wayne Gacy, 
or were they of real Satanists?  I decided to find out.

I aligned myself with DIOS, a non-profit organization in San Diego, 
California.  DIOS investigates the occult.  At the time that I became 
involved there were about 15 volunteer investigators.  Within six months I 
had become the head of investigations.  I created a sophisticated computer 
database for tracking leads.  I set up surveillance and investigation
details.  I oversaw the collection of hundreds of names, addresses, photos,
and other details.

It was not hard to find Self-styled Satanists.  I met dozens of them.  None
of them had parents who were Satanists, and many of them were from Christian 
homes.  Several confided that they weren't really Satanists at all, it was 
just something they did to make their parents angry.  It wasn't hard to find 
religious satanists either.

I spent quite a bit of time investigating "Anthony LeVay", a man who tours
the southwest lecturing in churches, and billing himself as the son of Anton 
LeVay, author of The Satanic Bible, and founder of the Church of Satan in San 
Francisco.  After one year of investigating Anthony, including correspondence 
with Anton LeVay, I determined Anthony's real identity.  His real name is 
Anthony Jai Littlewolf.  His father's name is Lee Wiley, a man who died in 
Watsonville, California in the 1970's.  I challenged Anthony to undergo a 
medical exam at my expense, to confirm or disconfirm the injuries which he
claims Anton LeVay inflicted upon him as a child.  He declined.

By 1991 I had interviewed hundreds of people on the telephone, and followed
up with dozens of field investigations.  When I would ask "victims" for 
physical evidence to back up their stories, when I would ask them to take me 
to the places where satanists were meeting, I was rebuffed.  Asking a survivor 
for details is equated with disbelieving their story.  I would ask pastors and 
other "experts" on SRA to show me the source material upon which their stories 
about SRA were based.  None ever did so, though several chastised me for my 
lack of faith.

I would ask survivors to show me their scars.  I would ask to see their
childhood diaries.  I would ask to see photos.  I would ask for names, 
addresses, and phone numbers of current Satanists I could surveil.  I would 
ask to be taken to places where rituals occurred. Almost always there was an 
excuse.  "I can't remember" or "they blocked my memory" or "they broke in and 
took my diary last night", etc. Giving excuses became a repetitive pattern.  
I began to notice other trends as well.  Nearly all of the "survivors" that I
interviewed fell into a predictable pattern:

1. Their abuse had not always been remembered; rather, their "memories" had
been "recovered".

2. Usually the "recovered memories" were associated with psychotherapy and
hypnosis. Many of the "victims" were former or current psychiatric patients 
with in-patient hospital experience.  Many had severe psychological and 
emotional problems.  I noticed a virtual absence of educated, open-minded, 
emotionally healthy people.

3. Among "survivors" there was an complete absence of former cultists who had
been adult perpetrators of satanic rituals and crimes; in other words: Where 
are adults who have exited the cults, and who aren't victims of cult torture, 
but are the former-tormentors of children, and the performers of these hideous 
satanic rituals?

4. Uniformly the families and childhood friends of "survivors" I investigated
denied the content of the survivor's visualizations.

5. Many of the parents and family members of "victims" were committed
Christians.

6. Many of the "survivors" described therapy with pastors or Christian
psychotherapists.

7. For the most part this seems to be a phenomenon occurring within the
Christian church.

I next turned to the research literature, in order to attempt to make sense
out what I was finding.  I photocopied, read and computerized over 350 
research articles, as well as dozens of books.  Things started coming 
together.  Many of the answers that I was looking for to explain the 
phenomenon of satanic ritual abuse stories were found as I began to search 
scientific journals, and read about pseudomemory.

During my investigation of SRA I was in contact with a number of people who
were also investigating SRA, both law enforcement personnel, and investigative
journalists.  We exchanged articles and books, as well as leads and 
investigation findings.  We talked about what we were finding, and more 
importantly, what we weren't finding (any evidence of secret and 
conspiratorial, generational satanism). 

I met some "retractors", people who have rejected their visualizations of
abuse as false memories.  Most reported the use of hypnosis, prayer, or group 
pressure in developing their "memories" of abuse.  As I interviewed these 
people, I began to understand that patients and parishioners could be 
hypnotized or regressed, or they could be placed in a suggestible state 
through a prayer and deliverance ministry, and that they could produce
visualizations of torture and abuse in incredible detail, as was expected of
them.

By January of 1993 I had reversed myself.  After hundreds of interviews,
thousands of miles, and dozens of stakeouts I no longer could accept the 
stories of satanic ritual abuse, absent compelling evidence.  I have yet to 
see any such evidence.  No substantial or compelling evidence for the 
existence of generational satanism has ever been produced.  As Ken Lanning, 
of the FBI forensic unit in Quantico has stated, law enforcement has
investigated generational satanism, and found zero evidence to back up the
stories of those who are in visualization intervention.  It is now the 
responsibility, and the obligation for therapists and pastors who do these 
things, who elicit these visions of abuse and satanism, to prove that the 
stories their patients and parishioners are telling are valid and true.

I'm not sure how long postings on witchhunt are supposed to be, as I am new
to it.  I am interested in corresponding with other SRA investigators.  I'm 
well into writing a book on the topic of FMS in the Christian church, and I 
welcome suggestions or anecdotes.

Eric Nelson